Concept of Tīrthankara -Arun Kumar Upadhyay, IPS B-9, CB-9, cantonment Road, Cuttack-753001, Orissa (India) Phone +91-671-2304172/2304433, Mobile +91-9437034172 Email<Arunupadhyay30@yahoo.in>1. Ŗşi and Muni-Ŗşi-has 7 meanings-(1) String-(rassi in Hindi)-Primordial string of 10-35

meters.(2) Stars-e.g.-Saptarşi, (3) Seer of mantras-seeing link between cosmic, physical, internal worlds. Link (rassi) between world of 3 levels, and common men (called Rasūla in Koran). (4) Starting a school of study, chain of guru-śişya, (5) Starting social groups (gotra), (6) Genetic link of man for 21 generations, (7) 7 dimension out of 10 of space indicating link between bodies/particles.Muni-A person who has control over body and mind = without rāga (attachment), bhaya (fear), krodha (anger) and with steady intellect. Only a Muni can be a seer of mantras, so all ŗşis have been called Muni also. A ŗşi may reveal a truth, but it will not be accepted by people without backing of an authority of a king. In any theoretical discussion, there will be many correct alternatives and some incorrect also. But only one can be followed. Even for a king to be followed, a moral justification is needed. Highest moral justification is provided by a king who is selfless, as shown by his renouncing the world. A faultless king who has become a sanyāsī is a Tīrthankara, i.e. he guides people to cross ocean of world.2. Tīrthankaras-First Tīrthankara in current era was Ŗşabhadeva in about 9,500 BC when civilization re-started in current historical kalpa (phase of civilization) after glacial floods in about 10,000 BC. His son Bharata also was Chakravartī and sanyāsī later on, but he faltered and developed attachment, for which he could not become a Tīrthankara. Thereafter, many kings having sway over world became sanyāsī. Only those have become Tīrthankara, but our difficulty is that Purāņas give their birth name or the name which became famous as a king. But, jaina texts give names of sanyāsī period only. There is need to match them. By taking them as separate persons, it looks as if there was no historical relevance of kings becoming Tīrthankara and they were not among historic kings. Thus, the kings who became Tīrthankara might be-Ikśvāku (8576 BC), Pururavā (8450 BC) , Yayāti (8200 BC), Māndhātā (7600 BC), Sagara (6762 BC), Bharata (son of Duşyanta) in c5000 BC. Samvarana (4159-4071 BC), Kuru (4071-3999 BC), Uparichara-Vasu (3751-3709 BC), The Vyāsas –Surakśaņa (8100 BC), Tryāruņa (7700 BC), Dhanañjaya (7400 BC), Kŗtañjaya (7000 BC), Ŗtañjaya (6650 BC), Vāchaspati (Niryantara) in 5600 BC, Sukalyāņa (5200 BC), Tŗņabindu (4850 BC). Among great kings Nahuşa (8250 BC), got post of Indra, but became serpent due to curse of Bhŗgu. Rāma (4433-4363 BC) was the greatest, but he expired as a king at age of 70 years when his sons Kuśa and Lava were 21 years of age and ministers had to rule for 4 years. He had lived in forest for 14 years before becoming king, but was not a sanyāsī. So, Nahuşa and Rāma were not Tīrthankara. 3.Yudhişţhira asTīrthankara-There is a lot of speculation about 22nd Yudhişţhira Neminātha jī. He is assumed to be a sage Arişţanemi mentioned in Chhāndogya upanişad. But again, Neminātha jī was not a king who became sanyāsī later on. Neminātha jī has been stated a cousin of Bhagawān Kŗşņa. Kŗşņa himself was never a king-he was never a president of the Yādava republic. Only two of his cousins became king-Duryodhana acted as a king due to support of his father Dhŗtarāşţra, but was not formally crowned as a king. Yudhişţhira was crowned as a king on 17-12-3139 BC and ruled till 28-8-3102 BC. Then he remained a sanyāsī till his death in March 3076 BC when Laukika or Saptarşi era started in Kashmir. He was called a Dharmarāja and was Lokottama (His ratha moved 6 inches above ground) which are not stated even for Kŗşņa. These 2 are adjectives of a Tīrthankara only. Next Tīrthankara was Pārśvanātha who was 8 generations after Yudhişţhira in royal family of Vārāņasī. His original name also appears to be Yudhişţhira, as Jaina Yudhişţhira samvat is taken from 2634 BC. 7 Generations after Yudhişţhira, Sarasvatī river dried and Hastinapur

drowned due to Gangā floods In this great upheaval, only powerful king was of Vārāņasī who could manage the country. Vardhamāna (1905-1795 BC) appears to a small king compared to greats of past. But, in his time, there was no great king and the democracies of north Bihar and east Uttar Pradesh were most powerful whom he was able to influence by his moral stature. Politically, Siddhārtha Buddha (1887-1807 BC) was temporarily more successful, because he relaxed all norms like vegetarian food, austerity. But it was not eternal like Jaina tradition which still continues as a parallel to Vedic tradition. Thus, he became a sanyāsī with name Mahāvīra and the last Tīrthankara. 4. Large numbers in legends-We find un-imaginable large measures of age and size in descriptions of great men of past. Due to respect, we do not think about the real age etc and go on increasing the numbers. The great men were physically same as any other men, only their qualities were superior. There should be no guilty feeling in trying to find out the real age etc and to follow their ideals of human life. 5. Age of Ŗşabhadeva-The first Jain Tīrthankara Ŗşabhadevaji is said to have life of 100 Koɖā-Koɖī =100 x107 x107 =1016 years. This number cannot be correct as the day-night of Brahmā is 8.64 x109 years only. In Gītā (8/18-20) that is called measure of creation cycle-in day of 1000 yugas, when world is created from abstract source. Here, Yuga of 43,20,000 years is cycle of planets up to Saturn which affect long term changes on earth like eccentricity of orbit, inclination of earth axis, rotation of major axis of orbit, magnetic pole reversal etc. In modern terms, day night of Brahmā is measure of visible universe called tapah-loka in light years. Modern estimates vary from 8 to 18 billion light-years. Life of a single person cannot be million times age of universe. Even in Jaina texts, it is said that when Ŗşabhadevaji relinquished kingdom, only Bharata was of 25 years of age, and younger brother Bāhubali had to wait for 4 years, when he was given a small kingdom of Podanapur. His sons were not Tīrthankara and had normal life only. A person with abnormal height of 500 Dhanuşa cannot talk or live with normal persons, no house or bed of that size can be built. It is more likely that he had left the kingdom at age of 75 years as per the rules of 4 āśramas made by him (Gītā 4/13). Thereafter, he might have lived up to the age of 100 years or slightly more. 6. Veda as Breath-There is a similar reference in Rāma-charita-mānasa of Tulasīdāsa in Bālakāņɖa (203/3) that 4 Vedas are his breath. That is translation of Bŗhadāraņyaka upanişad (2/4/10). The Vedas in word form are not the breath-they are printed in press. Here, breath means creation cycle of universe of 8.64 billion years. Veda in words is śruti-jñāna in Jaina terms, so it is called śruti. In India, normal breath cycle is taken as 15 breaths in 1 minute, i.e. 1 in 4 seconds. In west, it is 18 breaths per minute. Thus, there are 21,600 breaths in 1 day of 86400 seconds (24 x 60 x 60). In 100 years, there are about 36525 days. So, taking 1 breath equal to creation cycle, age of 100 years is 8.64 x109 x 21600 x 36525 = 6.83 x 1018 years. If we take years as days, then it is 1.87 x1016 years. Then, 1016 years will mean 100/1.87=53 years only. That might be the age when Bharata had attained age of 25 years and was made a king. 7. Chain of Avatāra- Another is the concept of Avatāra = to descend. That is a short form of the real. Vişņu maintains the creation. On a smaller scale a king does the same, so he is a form of Vişņu. Ŗşabhadevaji was the first great king after glacial floods in around 10000 BC, so he is one of the 24 avatāra of Vişņu. As a source of knowledge, he is called 9th avatāra of Śiva in Kūrma purāņa, chapter 10. He revived the Vedas, so he is called 11th Veda-vyāsa in same purāņa. The word ŗşabha has all these meanings-source of inspiration of ŗşis, carrying or pulling load like a bullock (ŗşi = rassi or string, rope which pulls), and maintain people by farming again like a bullock which ploughs. Thus, ŗşabha or vŗşabha means a bull also. In Gītā, Arjuna has been called ŗşabha among men (puruşarşabha) for praise. As Śiva Ŗşabhadevaji has been called Digambara (twice in Śiva pañvhākśara stotra). As consciousness in universe, he is unbound (Ananta, Akabar = without cover), so he has no boundary. Ambara means cloth, sky and cover. In space only sky is cover, i.e. without any material boundary. As a man, its meaning is without clothes, or vacant directions as cloth. As Mahāvīra (Hanumān) is incarnation of Śiva, among Tīrthankaras also was the last in the

chain of 24 was Mahāvīra. Link between previous and later is called nātha (nadha =to tie), so only the 22 in middle are called nātha, not the first and the last. In sequence of avatāra, the qualities go on declining. It is similar to genetic chain. A man inherits only half the chromosomes of his parents. Taking life of Bhagwan Mahāvīra as 100 years (he lived for 110 years in 1905-1795 BC as per Purāņic chronology. Jina-vijaya-mahākāvya gives 599-627 BC as period of Kālakāchārya, called Vīra, not Mahāvīra), lives of earlier Tīrthankaras can be increased twice at each step. Then life of first Tīrthankara will be 100 x 223 = 109 years. In same way, size of body, influence have been increases by later writers out of reverence. They must have followed similar logic and mathematics. 8. Life of Rāma-Similarly, Rāma has been stated to rule for 11,000 years (Vālmīki Rāmāyaņa, Bālakāņɖa 1/1/97). In that period, 300 generations would have passed. But when he died, his twin sons were only 21 years of age and ministers had to rule for 4 years. If he had such a long life, he would have attained youth at age of 3000 years, but he was made Yuvarāja at age of 25 years only. Similarly, it has been stated that when Viśvāmitra had come to take Rāma, he was 15 years but Daśaratha was of 60000 years (Vālmīki Rāmāyaņa, Bālakāņɖa 1/20/2, 20). Sagara has been said to rule 30,000 years (1/41/26). King Dilīpa died due to decease after ruling for 30,000 years (1/42/8, 9). Bhagīratha did tapas for 1000 years (1/42/13). There was allegation on misconduct of king when a child died in unripe age of 5,000 years (5000 days=14 years). Commentator Nīlakaņţha has opined year =1 day in such cases and half day in case of age of Daśaratha as 60000 years. Thus, was aged 82 years when Rāma was 15 years. At birth of Rāma, Daśaratha was 67 years, Kauśalyā about 60 years. So, Aśvamedha yajña was needed to rejuvenate them-it was internal of human body, no horse had moved in country. Rāma became king at age of 39 years and he died after 11000 days at age of 70 years when Lava-Kuśa were 21 years of age. 9. Army of Rāma-In chapter 28 of Yuddhakāņɖa of Vālmīki Rāmāyaņa, strength of Rāma army is stated in verses (38-40) as 100 mahaugha or 1064. Maximum population which can be sustained on earth is about 1010 men-current is about 7 x 109. Total number of electron positron pair in solar system is 1060 - it can be found by dividing solar mass by mass of electron, both given in texts of physics, e.g. by Resnic and Halliday, appendix. The large number has been arrived by mixing up of Indian system of numbers increasing by 100’s and Asura (western) system increasing by 1000’s. Similarly, Tulasīdāsa also stated 18 Padma (1015) as number of commanders (Sundara kāņɖa 54/2). That also exceeds earth population by 105. However, Vālmīki Rāmāyaņa clearly describes 18 commanders in 2 chapters of Yuddhakāņɖa. War had been fought in 18 sectors all over world. For each sector, there was a commander, called Padma (name of the post or rank, like Padma-śrī etc. now. Mahābhārata, Udyoga parva (155/24) 1 vāhinī =10 akśauhiņī. (Mahābhārata, Ādi-parva (2/19-25) gives 1 akśauhiņī = 2, 18, 500 fighting men. Rāvaņa army for attack on Devas was 10, 49, 760 (Uttarakāņɖa 25/33) called 4 sahasra (= about 4) akśauhiņī. Rāvaņa might have added some more army after capture of some lands after victory over Devas etc and for preparing against attack of Rāma. But it will not be much more than 5 akśauhiņī. Nīlakaņţha has commented that Rāma had 62 units (not 1062) compared to 70 units of Rāvaņa. These 62 or 70 units might be like present division of army or senā defined above. If it was senā i.e. 1 /10 of akśauhiņī then the strengths are 6 (6.2) and 7 akśauhiņī respectively. Thus, Rāma had about 13 lakh and Rāvaņa about 15 lakhs army. Rāvaņa was ruling most of the world and had Pātāla (north America-Ahirāvaņa), Africa (Mālī, Sumālī =Somalia), Australia (golden land = suvarņa bhūmi) under him. Rāma also had support from anti Asura forces from all over the world. It is stated in Uttarakāņɖa (38/21-27) that 300 kings had helped Rāma who had been marshalled by king Janaka of Mithilā on hearing about kidnapping of Sītā.